toil will be the cause of our death, if we should make an attempt upon these people." To this the others replied that it was well said, for they all knew that he spake the truth. Then they mended their sails and commenced to leave. Now Dinis Diaz said that he had seen one thing on that island that seemed to him a novelty, as far as his knowledge went, that is he saw, among the cows, two strange animals, very ugly in comparison with the other cattle; but as these two were going in company with them, I hold that they might perchance be buffaloes,[N166] which are animals in the nature of oxen. And it was so, that as those men were returning, Rodrigueannes, who was leaving that land ill-contented because he had found no opportunity of displaying the good-will he nourished to achieve some honourable action, said to Dinis Diaz that it seemed to him it would be well were they to send some of their men on shore, for it might happen that some Moors would come to seize the wood of the pinnace which they had left scuttled, and if they chanced on them, they could not fail to capture some. And as Dinis Diaz agreed with this, they put out their boats, in the which they dispatched twenty men to the shore. And clear it is that Rodrigueannes was not mistaken in his thought, for the Moors were already engaged in collecting that wood on the shore; and when they saw that the boats were coming to the land, they drew away a space from the beach, as men who said: "these are arrived in search of us, therefore let us seek out a way by which we may not only secure ourselves, but even do them hurt as well." So they threw themselves into two ambushes with the object of enticing our men away from the shore and employing their strength safely and without danger to themselves. Meanwhile the Christians landed, and halted for a space to order their movements, and this because they discovered such traces of the Moors that they thought they could not be removed far from there; yet they perceived by the number of the footmarks that the enemy was many more in number than their forces could cope with, and this made some ask that they should return, saying that it was not a thing to be attempted. But others said, "There is no help for it; we are already on shore, and it would be a disgrace were we to turn back; let the boats return, and let us go forward in search of our enemies, and let all our fortune rest in God's hand." And of the first twenty that were there six turned back to the boats to take them to the ships, and the fourteen[BU] went forward as they found that the tracks led in the direction of the Upland. But their toil in marching was not long, for lo, the first ambuscade began to disclose itself, and in it there would be about forty Moors, who issued forth against them[BV] very eagerly, like men who felt they had victory in their grasp, as well by reason of their numbers, which were greater, as on account of the others who were lying in the